Kevin Falcon wants merit pay for B.C. teachers (UPDATED AGAIN)

Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon has ignited a firestorm in education circles by suggesting he would introduce merit pay for teachers if he becomes the province’s next premier.

“Every parent and student knows who the exceptional, innovative educators are,” he said in a statement. “Government needs to recognize and reward those teachers, and encourage them to share their expertise and methods with their peers.”

Susan Lambert, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, doesn’t like the idea. The BCTF has long opposed merit pay – saying a teacher is a teacher is a teacher – and Lambert said teacher assessments are usually based on test scores, which is a very narrow measure of learning.

Lambert said this latest idea is just one more example of the Liberals’ appalling lack of creative ideas for supporting public education, citing other examples such as allowing families to cross school boundaries, reducing special-needs support and overseeing the loss of one-quarter of school librarians (at a time when literacy was stated as the government’s highest priority).

Regarding the loss of school boundaries, Lambert told Good that every public school should have the resources needed to serve the needs of every child in that neighbourhood.

The Liberals will choose their new leader Feb. 26 . . . just in time for another intense round of teacher bargaining. I am trying to reach Falcon to find out how serious he is about this proposal and how he intends to introduce it. (Legislation? A contract item?) No matter what you think about the idea, it would be difficult to introduce in B.C. And before anyone takes this proposal too seriously, we will need to hear how teachers would be evaluated for merit pay. (As noted by a “Secondary Teacher” below, there aren’t many standardized tests these days, apart from the FSA in Grades 4 and 7.)

Meanwhile, another leadership contestant, George Abbott, says he does not favour merit pay. “It has not proven . . . to be a successful experiment,” he told a news conference Tuesday morning.

Abbott said he would prefer to work with all education partners – including the BCTF – on a number of proposals that might turn a good education system into a great one. For example, he said he is keen to see more personalized learning, especially in the lower grades.

He wasn’t critical of Falcon for proposing merit pay, but said he doesn’t think grabbing one idea from the U.S. is the way to go.

Another former education minister and Liberal leadership candidate, Christy Clark, had a live chat with the Vancouver Sun at noon Tuesday but didn’t address the issue.

UPDATE: Clark was asked: “What steps will you take to repair the relationship – if you can call it that – with the BCTF? After all, nothing much can be done on the education file without getting the powerful teachers lobby on.”

And later: “Kevin Falcon took a shot at teachers yesterday with his merit pay proposal. What do you think about this? How do you reach out and show support for the good work for individual teachers, while challenging the BCTF to be more flexible?”

CC’s response: “In terms of education, I’m proud of my record of achieving change. We signed accountability contracts with every district, set goals for improvement and we created parent’s councils at every school to include them in planning. We demanded that district’s provide more choice for parents. And all these initiatives were about including more people in how our education system is run.”

And later: “As a education minister, I introduced a new reward for teaching excellence and I would like to find more ways to reward good teachers. Changes proposed to the teacher’s college needs to happen because that is how teaching excellence can be better guaranteed.”

U.S. President Barak Obama, who favours merit pay, was quoted last year as saying: “It’s time to start rewarding good teachers “[and] stop making excuses for bad ones.”

SECOND UPDATE: Falcon has just issued a news release with more details. Here it is:

Falcon supports the development of a Master Teacher Incentive Program, similar to one being implemented nationally by Australia’s new Labour Government.

“BC has a great education system powered by thousands of very dedicated professional teachers and thevancouversunistrators. But every parent and student knows who the exceptional, innovative educators are,” said Falcon. “Government needs to recognize and reward those teachers, and encourage them to share their expertise and methods with their peers.”

Falcon said he would work with teachers, thevancouversunistrators, parents, and community leaders to develop a set of criteria for identifying innovative educators across BC. Recognized Master Teachers would then help mentor other educators in the system to encourage excellence in the system.

“The criteria could include peer evaluation, parental input, improved test results, extra-curricular school activities, and other suggestions that may arise,” said Falcon. “The principle, however, is clear: excellence in teaching should be rewarded and encouraged, and I make no apology for believing that our best teachers should be recognized.”

As Premier, Falcon would also support the development of a Model School Incentive Program that potentially rewards schools for improvements in areas such as grades, attendance, graduation rate, trades programs, and arts.

“We should never be afraid of innovation and learning what works in other jurisdictions,” said Falcon.

Falcon has a keen interest in education for several reasons, including some very close family and friends who work in the school system.

“A high quality education system is the best anti-poverty initiative and the best health program government can advance,” said Falcon.

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